The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7206 p46
13 July 2002

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Pharmacies would be cheaper bases for walk-in centres, official report says

Establishing walk-in centres in pharmacies or GP surgeries would be cheaper and better than opening special premises, a report on National Health Service walk-in centres suggests.

An independent review of the 42 NHS walk-in centres in England has been carried out by a team from the division of primary care at the University of Bristol at the Department of Health's request. The report's main conclusion is that the centres "have been generally successful in meeting their aims and appear to provide accessible, high quality care but at a greater cost than other providers of health care".

The report says that the most obvious alternative model would be to give additional funding to GP practices or community pharmacies to employ nurses to provide a minor illnesses service over wide opening hours. This would allow the development of a consistent walk-in centre brand and help integrate the service within primary care. Visits to established walk-in centres cost an average of just over £23, compared with £15 for a GP visit and £7 for a practice nurse.

The report also found that only 5.1 per cent of those using walk-in centres would have gone to a community pharmacy about their health problems if there had been no walk-in centre available. Nearly twice as many people (9.7 per cent) would have decided to manage the complaint themselves. In contrast, people who were asked what they would do if they could not be seen by their GP would have considered a wider range of options, with walk-in centres being one of a number of alternatives alongside pharmacies (16 per cent), asking for a home visit, or managing the problem themselves (17 per cent). Few people in either group considered contacting NHS Direct.

Most local health care professionals were undecided about whether walk-in centres were a good idea. Pharmacists were generally supportive but less aware of local walk-in centres. Only one in five pharmacists had visited their local centre.

Copies of the report on NHS walk-in centres can be found on the Bristol University website.